PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Friday said that while the Caribbean Community (Caricom) is in “urgent need of some transformation”, the twin island republic “attaches great importance to our country’s long-standing relationship” with the 15-member regional integration movement, Caricom.

Persad-Bissessar made the remarks in a statement to Parliament where the Caricom chairman Dr Terrance Drew, and his delegation, which included the Caricom Secretary General, Dr Carla Barnett, were in attendance.

“We remain highly invested in the region’s success and our commitment to regional growth and development. As a government we share the warm sentiments expressed by Prime Minister Drew, in his New Year’s message to the Community upon assuming chairmanship of Caricom,” she said.

Drew, who is also the St Kitts and Nevis prime minister, had said then in part that the region’s collective strength is greater than any single issue before the Caricom and Persad-Bissessar said that “while Trinidad and Tobago believes that Caricom is in urgent need of some transformation, we remain committed to Caribbean unity.

“We remain committed to Caribbean unity,” she repeated as government legislators banged their desk in approval. My government looks forward to engaging with prime minister and his delegation in productive discussions on issues facing the region. We will both ensure that the work of Caricom remains relevant to the people ,” she said, inviting Prime Minister Drew to come back to Trinidad and Tobago “soon to enjoy the rest of our Carnival season”.

Prime Minister Drew, speaking later at the Diplomatic Center, said he is “seeking to reach out to all of our members so that we can continue to build Caricom stronger and more stable and secured heights that would benefit all of us on the principles of respect and that each of us is sovereign within the framework”.

Persad-Bissessar said that the “conversations” with the Caricom delegation “were very encouraging and I am very impressed with your approach in dealing with Caricom as you have taken over the chair”.

Earlier this week, the Guyana-based Caricom Secretariat said that the visit “is part of the chair’s focus on face-to-face discussions with regional leaders,” adding that Prime Minister Drew met last week with the new Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Godwin Friday, in Kingstown.

Caricom leaders are due to meet in St Kitts and Nevis from February 24-27, and in recent times the Trinidad and Tobago prime minister has been critical of the integration movement following her country’s support for the United States war on drugs in the Caribbean.

Last December, Persad-Bissessar said the regional organisation was “not a reliable partner at this time” and that every sovereign state must be prepared to accept the consequences of its foreign and domestic policy choices as she defended the United States’ announcement of partial entry restrictions on nationals of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.

“Caricom cannot continue to operate in this dysfunctional and self-destructive manner,” Persad-Bissessar said, highlighting what she described as poor management, lax accountability, factional divisions, destabilising policies, and inappropriate meddling in domestic politics by some member states.

She also said that the organisation’s support for the then Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, which has been accused of human rights violations and threats against Caricom members, further undermines its credibility.